This invention relates generally to surgical instruments and more particularly to surgical forceps used in microscopic surgery having suction means for removing fluid and/or gases from a surgical area.
Surgical instruments having both grasping and suctioning capability are known in the art. The desirability and benefit of using a single instrument capable of manipulating the surgical area and aspirating fluids and/or gases away therefrom, has prompted the development of several such devices. For example, a tweezer-like configuration having a small conduit in one or both of the leg members capable of suctioning fluid and/or gases is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,909 and further described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,864, both issued to Kletschka et al. In addition, bipolar forceps having one leg for providing suction are commercially available through Codman Inc., e.g., GREENWOOD Bipolar and Suction Forceps, Model 30-1525 and 1526.
These devices must also provide some means for controlling the suction produced by the device. The Codman bipolar and suction forceps (Model 30-1525 and 1526) provides no way to modulate the amount of suction produced by the device, other than decreasing the amount of suction produced by the source. Having the suction always on impairs the utility of the device to selectively remove debris from the surgical area as well as its effectiveness in grasping and releasing tissue. Kletschka et al. describes surgical forceps consisting of two legs, one or both legs having a conduit extending from the tip of the leg to a suction source, through which suctioned material is removed from the surgical site. A slot-like opening on the exterior wall of the leg exposes a porion of the conduit, thereby diverting the suction away from the tip to the opening when the opening is unobstructed. To transfer the suction to the tip of the leg requires the operator to obstruct the opening with a finger, or to move a slide member over the opening with a finger. This provides the surgeon with a variable control of the amount of suction.
Movement of the sort required by Kletschka et al. to operate the suction control causes the operator to change the natural position of the hand holding the instrument. This movement results in the momentary loss of control of the instrument during surgery. For extremely delicate surgery, such as neurological, vascular, and cardiothoracic microsurgery, the temporary loss of control of the device can have disastrous consequences, e.g., damage a nerve or blood vessel. Even in less critical situations, it is inconvenient and inefficient for the surgeon to have to change hand positions to switch between suctioning and using the instrument as a forceps. Consequently, surgical instruments requiring unnatural hand movements to control the suction, such as that required by Kletschka et al., have not achieved acceptance by surgeons.
Accordingly, a need remains for surgical forceps including means for suctioning fluid and/or gases away from the surgical area which can be controlled by the user without adversely affecting the surgical utility of the device.